Institute for Biological Research, Department of Neurobiology, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia.
Physiol Behav. 2010 Dec 2;101(5):672-8. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.08.005. Epub 2010 Aug 14.
Food restriction (FR) has a beneficial effect on aging process and exerts a significant effect on the responses of rodents to standard behavioral tasks. The aim of this study was to assess the cumulative influence of FR on the behavioral and biochemical parameters in Wistar rats. Six-month-old rats were subjected to restrictive feeding (50% of the daily food intake, every-other-day feeding regimen) for one month or for six months until ages of 7 and 12months, respectively. We examined the habituation of exploratory movement, amphetamine (AMPH)-induced motor activity, as well as changes in serum corticosterone (CORT) and glucose levels. The results obtained from FR animals were compared with ad libitum (AL)-fed age-matched control rats. Habituation of motor activity was only affected by six months of restrictive feeding. The sensitization of the motor response to AMPH that was observed in animals exposed to FR for one month was not observed in animals that were exposed to the same feeding regimen for six months. Serum CORT was increased and serum glucose was decreased in both FR groups. These results clearly show that despite the similarity of the biochemical changes that were induced by one and six months of FR, the nature of the changes in motor activities in these two groups of animals during habituation and after AMPH treatment was different. Our findings indicate that long-term FR has complex behavioral consequences that need to be carefully evaluated with respect to animal age, duration of FR and severity of the diet.
限食（FR）对衰老过程有有益的影响，并对啮齿动物对标准行为任务的反应产生显著影响。本研究的目的是评估 FR 对 Wistar 大鼠行为和生化参数的累积影响。六个月大的大鼠接受限时喂养（每日食物摄入量的 50%，隔日喂养方案）一个月或六个月，分别直至 7 个月和 12 个月大。我们检查了探索性运动的习惯化、安非他命（AMPH）诱导的运动活动以及血清皮质酮（CORT）和葡萄糖水平的变化。将 FR 动物的结果与自由进食（AL）喂养的同龄对照大鼠进行比较。只有六个月的限时喂养才会影响运动活动的习惯化。在仅接受一个月 FR 暴露的动物中观察到的对 AMPH 的运动反应的敏化，在接受相同喂养方案六个月的动物中未观察到。两种 FR 组的血清 CORT 增加，血清葡萄糖降低。这些结果清楚地表明，尽管一个月和六个月的 FR 诱导的生化变化相似，但在习惯化和 AMPH 处理后，这两组动物的运动活动变化的性质不同。我们的研究结果表明，长期 FR 具有复杂的行为后果，需要根据动物年龄、FR 持续时间和饮食严重程度进行仔细评估。
